☼ Hello Everyone ☼

Scaling Mount Timbak was really such a great experience! Meeting with new folks, be inspired by the locals, sharing insights and laughing over silly jokes with the Conqueror Outdoor Club it was indeed a meaningful and fun experience that I will treasure forever.

Glad our CAGBALETE ISLAND Trip was a success. Thanks to Ms. Tess of Villa Cleofas who answered all of my inquiries and to Josiah Sicad of Lakas Trip. I'm glad that I stumbled upon his blog for this made our journey possible in the cheapest way.

We face a lot of challenges everyday of our lives. Some are easy to handle while some may seem too much for us to take. And as I gradually became fond of climbing lately I realized that Life is.. Life is also a mountain to climb!

I was very sincere in seeking God. But I also saw the reality that my religiosity in church did not carry over to my life at home. I got angry at my nieces and pinched them whenever they touched my things, gave my mom, my ate, a weeks/ or month of silent treatment in rebellion to their strictness, spent hours devouring novels and giving way to my imaginations. I was selfish and self-centered.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

What I love in Calaguas Island is its shimmering grains of powder-white sand and its awesome turquoise waters. No doubt, these make me want to go back again!

It was January 2010 when a friend of mine invites me for a Vacay in their hometown in Bicol. He just visits the place once in a while so he asked my opinion for a good beach bumming place. There are a lot of beautiful resorts and beaches that showed up on google, but the indescribable beauty of Calaguas Island caught my attention. February 2010, we are four in the group who embarked on our Calaguas Island trip.

We left Manila at 3pm and it took us a 9-hour van ride to reach Guinacutan. Guinacutan is one of the barangay in municipality of Vinzons, province of Camarines Norte. We decided to sleep over here at my friend's Aunt's house and head out to the island the next morning.

We woke up at 6'oclock, had a quick coffee and went straight to the beach. At first, my friend's relatives, warned us not to go to Calaguas, they're worried about us since we're not familiar with the place and that something not good may happen to us. Beside, the two hours boat ride quite unsafe for us, they thought, since all of us four are not good swimmers, plus we don't know anyone in the island. They also said that most of the locals in the island are "mambabarang"(necromancer), "manlalason" (poisoners) and even they didn't dare to go at once. These things somehow frightened us but our conviction to see the island is much stronger that we really want to continue on our journey. And as one's quoted,

"If you don't do it, you'll never know what would have happened if you had done it"'.

It was a long explanation before we finally got the relatives’ approval ^^. So, Vámonos! It took us 30 minutes for a trike ride from Guinacutan to Vinzons where we’re going to rent a boat going to the island. Thanks to our buddy who speaks & understands "bisaya" he was lucky to bargained the bigger fishing boat for only P2,500.00 for a 2-way ride.

It was a smooth ride, the waters were calm even when we reached the mid-part of the ocean, the waves are also not that high. Imagine us sailing, I dunno how to swim, and we're not wearing life jackets at all. Ayt! Were almost in the middle of ocean yet we haven't seen a land, and its almost more than an hour past! It was really, scary! More bigger waves greeted us 40 minutes before we arrived on the mainland. Finally after the 2 hours boat ride, we’ve had the view of the mainland, thank God! We are so excited that we want to jump out of the boat. ^^ The island has given us instant relief and peace after that scary boat ride.

Here are some of my snapshots from my old Exilim 7.2 Megapixel point & shoot cam, not bad! :p (click to enlarge)

How to Go:

We went there via private van, but lemme share you how to get to Calaguas Island from Manila by public transport.

I saw this instructions from journeyingjames and I regret I didn't see this one before. I will surely follow this once I get back to Calaguas.

From Manila:
> Manila - Get off at Talobatib or Labo
> From Talobatib or Labo, take the bus going to Paracale (Php 35, 1 hour ride)
> From Paracale look for the fish port and ask around the boat trip going to Brgy. Mangcawayan (Calaguas).
> Take the passenger boat to Calaguas (Php100, 2-3 hours).
You will get off at Bgry. Mangcawayan (barrio), you can then walk towards Mahabang Buhangin.

From Naga:
> Take the van going to Daet (Php 188, 2 1/2 hours)
> From Daet take the tricycle to vans/bus going to Paracale (Php 50, 1 hour)
> From Paracale look for the fish port and ask around the boat trip going to Brgy. Mangcawayan (Calaguas).
> Take the passenger boat to Calaguas (Php100, 2-3 hours).
You will get off at Bgry. Mangcawayan (barrio), you can then walk towards Mahabang Buhangin.